3 pages a day of whatever. Just keep writing. Every morning. Fill up a notebook. Then another. And see what happens.

Common advice from a creativity coach, even if writing is not your thing. Sometimes called free writing, brain drain, morning pages, or journaling. From my personal experience, here’s what happens and why it works.

Getting It Out

Sometimes I just have to get it all out—emotions, complaints, whining, even writing about how stuck my writing is. I’ve even written things like: “I have nothing to write about. I would rather be reading right now. I still haven’t finished that book for book club…” Sounds pointless, but it’s not.

Why it works: Getting it out the page in a private journal means that it’s not clogging up my mind when it’s time to be creative. Flush it and move on.

Dreaming Big

My journal is a perfect place to jot down my big dreams before they are ready to share with anyone. Maybe they are too young, or too big, or too fantastic to reveal to another person, but to the page they are just fine.

Why it works: Once a dream is out on the page, I can poke at it, challenge it, try it on, and even leave it for a while and come back when it’s time to check if it’s still resonating.

Flash

Quite unexpectedly but not infrequently I get a flash of insight while I’m writing morning pages. Usually it’s about something I’m not writing about at the time. And look—I’m in the perfect place to record it. Why not capture it and see if it’s useful? It usually is. This week what started as meaningless drivel ended up being a draft of a drama script. Who knew that was in there?

Why it works: I’m more likely to get insightful ideas when I’m writing than when I’m not. And once I get them out, I’m ready for even more. This accelerates creativity and keeps me in the flow longer.

Now You

If you are trying to be more creative, you should be doing this. Try it. I think you’ll like it. Then let me know how it was for you.